


Yeah?

by quartetship



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Universe, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 02:57:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10732731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quartetship/pseuds/quartetship
Summary: "Yeah?" he asks, always glad for praise. It's a drink especially sweet when it pours from Shiro's lips.





	Yeah?

**Author's Note:**

> A belated birthday gift for the fabulous and talented [Rachel](https://twitter.com/5i2ish), who makes some of the best VLD art in the universe. See the works that inspired this piece [here](https://twitter.com/5i2ish/status/850568684582187009) & [here](https://twitter.com/5i2ish/status/829526040963866624/photo/1)! Enjoy the sweet Shance fluff, friends!
> 
> \--

There is still a part of Lance - a larger one than he would like to admit - that sees Shiro through rose-colored glasses. 

Serving under him for months, Lance has seen his hero’s many sides. He has seen Shiro’s shortcomings, his humanity in its many facets. There is no reason to worship him the way that he once did, but it doesn't stop Lance entirely. It's hard to leave old habits behind, and Lance's biggest struggle is reminding himself that Shiro is only a man. 

Because even with his faults laid bare, Shiro is still a cut above any man Lance has ever known. 

The shift begins when Lance sees part of him that even after all their time together, he had still yet to glimpse. Shiro is a man of quiet but constant surprises. When he smiles at Lance one evening as they climb out of their lions for the day, the look in his eyes is soft and fond, not the usual bolstering encouragement Lance has come to expect. Shiro almost looks like he wants Lance, wants to be near him as they unwind from their day, but Lance refuses to let himself believe it. 

He harbors enough fantasies about Shiro without adding a dream of his leader returning his silent longing to the mix. 

Lance swallows his hopes and walks alone to the showers. 

The peace inside of Lance's mind is acceptable as he recites his grooming routine to distract himself. He is aware that behind him somewhere, the others are mulling around, discarding clothes and scrubbing the day’s sweat from their bodies. It is so commonplace now that he hardly registers it. 

Today, though, something is different. Before he can place his finger on what that difference is, Shiro is breezing past him, wearing the same lingering look as before, a smile pulling at his lips. 

“You looked great out there today, Lance,” he says, and Lance's eyes snap up to focus on Shiro's face before he can decide on how to hold them, wide and pleasantly startled. 

“Yeah?” he asks, always glad for praise. It's a drink especially sweet when it pours from Shiro's lips. “Just doin’ my job, boss.” Lance grins as best he can manage, but he's certain the look on his face is ridiculous. 

Shiro doesn't seem to mind, though. He sidles right up beside him, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it aside, reaching for a clean night shirt out of a pile nearby. “I mean it. You really were on your game, today. I'm proud of you.” He clasps a hand on the back of Lance's neck and squeezes, and Lance is certain the skin beneath those long fingers is about to burst into flames, but he can't stop smiling, all the same. 

“Well, thanks,” he manages, forgetting that he's doing anything other than standing there, shirt half off of his arms as they fall uselessly forward. He smiles almost dumbly back at Shiro, both of them standing in the shower room in nothing but their underwear, touching far too fondly and faces far too close. Lance swallows to soothe his dry mouth. “Means a lot, you know?” 

“So do you,” Shiro says, and lets his face fall forward a fraction of an inch, just enough to rest his forehead against Lance's for a moment. Then he's gone, leaving Lance with one final smile, and Lance can do nothing but stare after him, frozen in place. 

Something in him changes, that day. Shiro is no longer simply an idol, a person to be admired and followed blindly. He is a person, a man not unlike Lance himself, and he is more beautiful and full of life in Lance’s eyes than he could have ever imagined him before. 

Lance's heart skips at least a beat, maybe more, and it feels like a long time before he draws another breath. 

\--

After that, things move quickly. 

One morning before a mission, Shiro pulls him aside, warns him to be careful, brushing Lance's overgrown bangs to the side with a soft smile. Lance nods, and is almost too taken aback to say anything in return, but remembering that every day might be their last, he manages. 

“You too,” he says, hand coming up to rest on Shiro’s broad chest. He splays his fingers over where he wagers Shiro's heart might be, letting his hand linger for a second longer, his smile nervous and needy. “Want more of those pep talks of yours, so don't go dyin’, alright?” 

Shiro nods and places his own hand over Lance's. “As many as you need,” he promises, and squeezes the fingers beneath his own before they have to go at last, both running toward the zip lines to their lions. 

That evening, they both make it back to the castle in one piece, and while Pidge and Keith do time in the recovery pods, Shiro and Lance look on with the others. 

“Glad it wasn't me, for once,” Lance snorts, and Hunk nods, distracted as he watches Pidge's vitals. Beside him, Shiro crosses his arms, shaking his head despite a growing smile. 

“I don't like when any of you are injured,” he says, and for a moment the Shiro that Lance had looked up to for so long is back, sounding every bit like an impartial leader. Then his face cracks a bit, though, and he leans toward Lance a little, grinning wider than he probably should. “But I'm glad it wasn't you, too.” 

“Yeah?” Lance teases, perhaps a bit desperate to hear more of that tone of voice from his commander. Shiro nods, unapologetic. 

“Mhm. You worry me sometimes, you know. You live a little too large, always finding your way into danger.” 

“I like to think danger finds me,” Lance grins. “And maybe the problem is really just that you don't live large enough, big guy.” 

At that, Shiro chuckles. “When am I supposed to find the time?” 

“I'll show you how,” Lance replied before he can think better of it. “Just squeeze me in between predawn push-ups and kickboxing with Keith. I can show you the world.” Already too far gone into flirting with him to save face, Lance waves his hand between the two of them dramatically and grins. To his surprise, Shiro flutters, just a little, before laughing louder than before. 

“That sounds nice. Looking forward to it.” He stretches, reaching above his head and then behind his own back, sighing as his back pops. “For now I'm gonna get some rest. See you after push-ups tomorrow?” 

His grin is cheeky and teasing, but Lance meets him where he is, nodding. 

“Looking forward to it, boss.” 

\--

Lance keeps his word, and so does Shiro. 

There is little that Lance can really show him, cooped up in the castle before most of the team has even risen for breakfast. That doesn't stop him from trying, though, and after a long look out observatory windows to make fun of nearby heavenly bodies and a lesson on the coolest-looking dives at the in-house swimming pool, he has done the best he can. He worries that it's not enough, a childish effort for a man who truly wanted to  _ learn _ something from him. 

When Shiro dissolves into laughter after a distracted misstep and tumble into the water on Lance's part, though, it all seems worth it. The depth and the warmth of his laugh is one that Lance has seldom heard the like of, and he can't help smiling despite his own embarrassment as he bobs in the deep end of the pool, defeated by his own feet. When Shiro moves over to scoop him out of the water, Lance's soreness at himself is forgotten. 

There is a moment of shared, quiet laughter as they stand together in the water, and then Shiro is looking at him with the same sweet, fond expression Lance has become addicted to, the one he saves for when the two of them are alone. 

“Can I kiss you?” Shiro asks, and Lance knows the laugh the follows is a result of his own excitement, the frantic nod he gives Shiro in reply. 

It doesn't seem to dissuade Shiro in the least, though. He smiles all the wider, leans in to close the space between them and captures Lance's lips with his own. The kiss is cold and wet from the water of the pool, but Lance melts in Shiro's arms, regardless. 

It ends too quickly, but Lance can feel those lips on his own for the rest of the day. Before they retire to bed that night, he feels them again, for real. 

\--

The weeks come and go with little change to the paladins’ schedules. 

They wake before daybreak, whether there is a star nearby to light their mornings or not. They break their fast together, laughter punctuating serious discussions when there is time for it. They work and they fight and they train as they always have, striving together to keep the universe safe. 

Every day, too, Lance grows fonder of Shiro, falls more in love with a person he sees more and more of, the less pretense is between them. 

There are gentle touches, kisses stolen when the others aren't looking, and the eventual, unavoidable confession to their teammates. No one seems surprised, and that surprises Lance more than anything. To hear his friends tell it, though, there is no denying his love for Shiro in the way he looks at him, and that suits Lance just fine. 

He stops keeping track of how long they've been this way after a while, happy to let things develop as they will. 

Still, the first night that Lance knocks on Shiro's bedroom door, he berates himself the entire time that he waits outside it for a response. What if Shiro assumes he's only here to try and get him out of his pants? What if Shiro tells him to leave? Everything he knows about Shiro tells him that these things won't happen, but his brain never forgets to remind him that part of Shiro is simply unknown. 

He can't predict him, no matter how close they become. 

To his relief, Shiro barely waits for Lance to open his mouth before welcoming him inside, greeting him with a kiss. 

They spend that night together, and nearly every one after it beside each other, as well. With Shiro curled around him, Lance feels safe, secure in the knowledge that the man he's sharing a bed with wants him there. He can only hope Shiro knows the same is true, for him. 

One night, he gets the chance to tell him as much. Their fingers are laced together, arms tangled above their heads as Lance rests atop him, pressing lazy kisses across Shiro's chest, his neck and jaw. It's a moment too perfect to imagine, and Lance tells Shiro so, exactly. 

“Yeah?” Shiro asks playfully, nosing against Lance's face, humming happily. Lance nods. 

“Yeah. Can't imagine anything better than this. Anything better than you.” He nips at Shiro’s ear, laughing quietly. Shiro shrugs, hands smoothing down Lance's sides to take hold of his narrow waist. 

“I'm not perfect, you know,” he says absently, and he continues trailing hands over Lance's bare skin as if he doesn't mean to continue the conversation. Lance doesn't let it go, though. He pushes up onto his hands, looking down at the perfectly beautiful, perfectly flawed person beneath him. 

“I know you're not,” he says decidedly. “I'm not either. I think I like us better, that way.” 

Shiro stares up at him, adoration shining anew in his eyes. “Yeah?” he whispers, and Lance can't help but grin, too wide to even kiss him properly. 

It doesn't stop him trying, though. 

“Yeah,” he answers. “Definitely.” 

He presses kiss after unhurried kiss to every part of his lover that he can reach, revealing in every scarred, imperfect, breathtakingly beautiful inch of him. There is nothing so lovely as the entirely  _ human _ being beneath him. Lance decides he will never find the words to express just how much he loves him, but he elects to dwell on that later. 

For the moment, he lets his lips be silent as they slide across Shiro’s, save for the satisfied sigh of a simple man in love with another. 


End file.
